Tuesday, November 17, 2009

November 14-16, 2009 With the flexibility of my job I was able to celebrate Veteran's Day on Monday and create a 3 day travel weekend. My time was spent in Romania - a beautiful country! I spent 2 days in Bucharest with a day in between in Transylvania. Through my hostel I was able to take a day tour to Peles Castle, "Dracula's Castle" also known as Bran Castle, and a traditional Transylvanian town, Brasov. It would have been impossible to connect these three locations in one day via the train so I was very lucky that I had read about this excursion on the hostel's website. Below are a few of my favorite pictures from my trip....enjoy.

Palace of Parliament....the world's second largest building by surface area (after the US Pentagon)

Streets of Bucharest

Bank in downtown Bucharest

Peles Castle

Brasov, Transylvania

Brasov, Transylvania

Hay Stacks, my favorite!!! at the Village Museum in Bucharest

one of the many houses at the Village Museum depicting the various lifestyles of Romanians

Leaves...women were raking leaves throughout the park and the Village Museum and gathering them in baskets or bags

For the second year in a row I am proud to report that the Human Resources' pumpkin has won! Last year we won "Most Creative" and this year we won 2nd place...Custodial won a well deserved first place. The inspiration behind this year's pumpkin design is thanks to Accounting. I saw their pumpkin before we had even thought about a design and it was very creative. Going off of last year's set up I thought, ok, they have a creative pumpkin we'll go for first place in the scary category hence the scary aztec/maori chimpanzee. After it got dark outside we had a red glow stick inside!! very creepy! The name "Wilson goes to New Zealand" came from a comment someone made saying our pumpkin looked like Wilson from Castaway....add the Maori designs and you have "Wilson goes to New Zealand." I'm glad we carved a pumpkin this year because I discovered it can be fun and easy when you have the right tools. Not only did someone else gut the pumpkin this year but we had real pumpkin carving tools instead of kitchen knives. This year was also a lot warmer outside -- last year my hands were numb by the time I had finished gutting the pumpkin but this year we were outside with just long sleeve tops on.

The 2009 Edelweiss Lodge and Resort 2nd place pumpkin

The pumpkin and I

Last year's pumpkin, "The House of HRO," Most Creative Pumpkin
*photo courtesy of my dear friend Courtney*

Monday, November 9, 2009

November 8, 2009 Jennifer, Megan, Mike and I went on a day trip to Saint Gallen, Switzerland. On our way back we stopped at the Bodensee. It's so weird being able to take a day trip to a different country and as a result sometimes you don't think about needing to travel with your passport! Luckily we were waved through at border control, whew!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

September 26, 2009 Every September and October there is an annual Pumpkin Fest in Ludwigsburg, just north of Stuttgart. After going last year and having such a great trip with Lisa Marie I marked my calendar months in advance to make sure I went again this year. Of course, a trip to the Pumpkin Festival is not complete without a stop at the Riter Sport Chocolate Factory and the Stuttgart Base for some American shopping and eating!

Riter Sport Chocolate Factory....The Store! Renovated and way bigger than last year!

Pumpkin Fest! This year's theme was "Fairytales"....last year's theme was space/zodiac signs...check out that Giant!...Jack and the Beanstalk, I think

Mouse and cheese round made out of pumpkins!

Dragon and his slayor....I found out that day that I'm not so knowledgeable about fairy tales

September 22, 2009 Martin, Natalie's boyfriend, bought us tickets to a Bayern Munchen play off game! I couldn't believe how cheap the tickets were - 30 euros! and we had amazing seats!!! 5th row on the corner of the home goal! Great seats!! The game was very crowded but luckily there were extra trains running to help get the crowd out of there at the end of the night. The stadium is a "cashless" stadium which is brilliant! We bought a card, put some euros on it and then bought what we needed to and it was fast! It definitely made a huge difference in the food lines. Even if you bought food/drinks from the vendors walking up and down the stairs of the stadium it was quick because they just had to scan your card. Anyway, here are some pictures from the game.

Before the game, walking to the stadium

The game! The field! The stadium!

The girls dressed in red for FC Bayern

The arena changes colors depending on who is playing....Red for Bayern Munich, Blue for 1860 Munich, White for German National Team